Saturday, October 31, 2015

This is how I tried to spend much of the evening of Halloween. Admittedly, I did find it challenging to concentrate as I had to help children get ready for trick-or-treating and then my door bell rang a lot. The struggle to read is real.

And this is where our oldest spent his Halloween. Clark (on the right) made pizzas for us, and for many, many others working at Papa Murphy's. It's their biggest day of the year by far, so all hands must be on deck.

My first, and favorite trick-or-treaters.

They met up with Faith and friends at the next house they went to.

Quite the neighborhood convergence at the Lee's.

The little ones are always wary, yet intrigued by the gorilla at the Kitchens.

Good to know there is protection nearby.

Abe and Frankenstein

Elinor the beggar met up with the boys.

My comfy setup, until it got too dark and cold. Then I went inside.

Cannon found his buddy, Jake.

I hope every neighborhood has that one really creepy house. We sure do. We also have the awesome house that grills hotdogs. And another that grills hamburgers. I'm telling you, this is Halloween Heaven!

I'm not really a cat lover, but I was charmed by the black cat that hung out on our front porch for a while tonight. I was kind of sad when it left.

It must have cast some sort of spell on me; I even tried to lure it to stay with a bowl of milk. Why would I do that?

Glorious Halloween!
Even as I write, two children are near to throwing up. It happens every year. I don't try to stop them. Go ahead and eat yourself sick once a year. It's some sort of rite of passage.

Clark and Bethany invited a few friends over for a Halloween party Thursday night. Abe and I talked about staying out of the way. We talked about not embarrassing our children. I planned to make them food and then let them be.

But we couldn't really help ourselves. They were having so much fun. We wanted to be a part of it. I like to think we were "helpful" in organizing games. But I fear that is wishful thinking.
Next year, we'll just have our own adult party. Then our children can get revenge and lurk around trying to get in on our games.

To begin with, Abe dressed as a creepy butler. Well, like we're going to host a Halloween party and not dress up!

I was Amelia Earhart-- or some other female Aviator. Not too shabby for last minute.

London and Raven in fine form.

London and Clark

Ben and his seriously disturbing marionette puppet. He was asked to put it away by several of the guests.

Abe, Breanna and Yoda

Adorable Corrine

Lisa and Raven

Cameron as Ron Weasly and Steve as a cop. When Steve showed up, I admit I had a moment of alarm- why is there a cop at the party?

Nikki and Robin Hood

Taylor.
There are no words.

Emma and Heather They played a fun "Battle of the Sexes" game. For the record, the boys won.

They played several games that were hysterical, but I ask you, are you ever too old for musical chairs? I loved Bryson sending Nikki flying in this picture. So gentlemanly.

This isn't a picture of it, but the last round ended in a wrestling match over the chair on the floor.

A pretty fun game called "Samuri" or "Hu-wah!" You'll notice Cannon in many of the pictures, he was hanging with the big dogs in all of the games. Someone forgot to tell him he was only seven and these were all teenagers. I don't think he was one whit behind them.

This game is probably more fun to listen to than to watch.

As you miss your cues or mess up the rhythm of the game you get out and the circle gets smaller.

There was mafia at the end.

The D&D boys ate doughnuts on a string.

It got a little ugly-- and messy.
The evening really was a lot of fun and I'm quite impressed with this great group of young people. But I am serious about an adult party next year!

We sort of had a family theme for Halloween this year. The theme was "Homemade Halloween". Do It Yourself Costumes. Part of me felt a little bit disappointed that I didn't make more of an effort, but the other part of me has never enjoyed Halloween more than I did this year! Talk about low-key and chill. I think I might need more low-key and chill in my life.
Bethany made this adorable unicorn costume.

Can you guess what Clark was?

A chick magnet!

I adored Elinor's blind beggar costume. This brown robe has come in handy several times over the years-- Jedi, beggar, monk. It was a good investment piece.

Could she have been a cuter Little Red Riding Hood?

Peter wore the beloved puppy dog costume. This doggie costume has been worn and loved by every single child since Clark. It was purchased on clearance after Clark's first Halloween. It has held up perfectly and I will NEVER throw it away. My grandchildren must wear the doggie costume!

George was Army Man-- another well-loved hand-me-down costume. I'm telling you, this Halloween was seriously low stress. Let it be known that the number of hours or the dollars spent on a costume do not equate with the love I have for this boy. He is wonderful and I adore everything about him.

I loved that he feel asleep on the floor 45 minutes before it was time to go trick-or-treating.

Cannon was Napoleon Dynamite. He had some concerns that his friends wouldn't "get" his costume.
We told him that is true, but it's too funny. Do it anyway. The funniest part was to hear him quoting Napoleon. HILARIOUS!

Here's one more picture, not quite as clear, but it makes me smile.

Those are the costumes everyone actually ended up wearing on Halloween night. But since it was Homemade Halloween, nobody had to decide very far in advance, and, in fact, several of them tried on several other costumes over the week leading up to Halloween. Here are a few runners up:

George seriously considered going as a butterfly (I think it's a fly).

George was ecstatic to have Clark make him a cocoon and hang him upside down. Big brothers can be really fun.

Cannon had a run as Commander and Chief. Faith helped him with his more sophisticated hairstyle. This cracked me up because Cannon reminded me so much of my youngest brother, Chip, at the same age.

Pete was a pretty cute little Yoda baby.

Cannon and Faith tested out the "Pioneer Children" look. I thought it was a good look.

Abe went around with the kids as the doggies chauffeur. I like that Peter is pulling at his doggie ears in rage. I guess he doesn't love the doggie costume as much as some of the kids.
Faith wasn't with the boys tonight as she went with a neighbor's family.

Will we return to a family costume theme next year? Probably. Most of the kids seem to like it. Or maybe not. This year was very enjoyable and I enjoyed the kid's creativity in finding costumes. We'll see.